


Star Wars and You: The Empire Strikes Back

by MedieavalBeabe



Series: Star Wars and You [2]
Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Revelations, Space Battles, Worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-28
Updated: 2017-04-28
Packaged: 2018-10-25 01:44:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 19,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10754142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MedieavalBeabe/pseuds/MedieavalBeabe
Summary: You and Luke have become Rebels alongside Leia, Han, Chewbacca, C3PO and R2D2 but it isn’t long before you find yourself sent to a completely new planet to train with a Jedi Master. However, your troubles are far from over as Darth Vader is intent on capturing you and Luke by whatever means possible, and tensions run high when he decides to use your friends as bait. Meanwhile, the pair of you are still struggling with your feelings for each other; Luke thinks that they’re completely platonic whilst you know for a fact they are something more...





	1. Frozen Vision

“Of all the planets in this whole galaxy,” you mutter to yourself, through chattering teeth as a draft blows through the closing front door of the Rebel base hanger, “w-w-why did we have to choose Hoth?”

 

Shaking your head as the door finally closes, you get back to your job, checking that all the comlinks are working. Two are missing, because Han and Luke are using them, but that doesn’t matter, you can still check them through a simple call.

 

“Echo Seven, come in, it’s Base, do you copy?” you say into your comlink.

 

“Copy, _(Y/N),_ I’m back now,” Han replies.

 

“What about Echo Three?” you ask.

 

“Luke went to check on a meteorite, but he said he wouldn’t be long. Should be starting back now.”

 

“Right, thanks, Han.”

 

Concerned, you click off the comlink for a second, furrowing your brow in frustration. There’s no point you asking yourself why Luke has to be so headstrong sometimes, because the truth is you wouldn’t love him if he were anything other than Luke Skywalker, but even so, you wish sometimes that he wouldn’t leave you in the dark when he gets an idea into his head. This, after all, is a pretty dangerous planet, filled with wild creatures and constant cold, so anything could happen to him.

 

You click the comlink back on again and call “Echo Three, do you copy?” expecting Luke to respond almost instantly when he recognises your voice. Only he doesn’t. You frown and try again. “Echo Three, this is Base, do you read me?” Your only reply is a fuzz of static. “Alright, Luke Skywalker,” you say, fiercely, as you walk away from your post with the comlink still in your hand. “If this is a joke, it’s not funny anymore, you’d better answer me right now, young man!”

 

Nothing.

 

“Alright,” you mutter, “I’ll give him five more minutes to respond, and _then_ I’ll panic!”

 

Pocketing the comlink, you make your way towards the part of the hanger where the Millennium Falcon is sitting, with Chewie working on her. You glance up at him. “Chewie, do you need a hand?”

 

Chewie makes a roar that sounds like an affirmative and gestures to a tool in the box by your feet. You pick it up and reach up to hand it to him, watching him work for a while with a welding mask held over his face. The door opens again and you bite back the urge to yell “Shut the door!” to whoever’s opened it, because it turns out to be Han.

 

“Hey,” he says to you, in greeting, before calling up “Chewie!”

 

Chewie growls a reply and you giggle. “I think you’re in trouble.”

 

“Alright, don’t lose your temper,” Han exclaims, “I’ll come right back and give you a hand.”

 

For want of something better to do, you follow him into the command centre where General Rieekan and Leia are working. Rieekan immediately straightens up as you and Han approach.

 

“Solo?”

 

“No signs of life out there, General,” Han reports. “The sensors are in place. You’ll know if anything comes around.”

 

“Commander Skywalker reported in yet?” Rieekan asks.

 

“No, he’s checking out a meteorite that hit near him.”

 

“Was his comlink working alright then?” you interrupt before the General can continue.

 

Han glances at you. “Yeah. Why?”

 

“Because he’s not answering when I call him, all I’m getting is static,” you say, biting your lip. “It might just be the signal, though.”

 

“With all the meteor activity in this system, it’s going to be difficult to spot approaching ships,” Rieekan continues, as if there’s been no break in the conversation whatsoever.

 

Han takes a deep breath. “General, I’ve got to leave, I can’t stay anymore.”

 

Leia looks up and meets your frown with one of her own.

 

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Rieekan says.

 

“Well, there’s a price on my head,” Han explains. “If I don’t pay off Jabba the Hut, I’m a dead man.”

 

“A death mark’s not an easy thing to live with,” Rieekan sympathises. “You’re a good fighter, Solo. I hate to lose you.”

 

“Thank you, General,” Han replies.

 

You turn away and try Luke again. “Echo Three, come in.” The static crackles, sounding louder than before. “Come on, Luke, please...” you whisper.

 

Rieekan moves away as Han turns to Leia. “Well, your Highness, I guess this is it.”

 

“That’s right,” Leia agrees in a tight tone.

 

“Well, don’t get all mushy on me,” Han replies, sarcastically. “So long, Princess.” He pats your shoulder as he leaves. “Say goodbye to Luke for me, _(Y/N).”_

 

“I will if I find him,” you say, closing your eyes. As Leia runs after him, you reach out with the Force and try to figure out what’s happened to Luke. Nothing happens at first, but slowly you relax yourself and reach out with more confidence, and then suddenly you feel something, pain and fear, but not yours, it’s further away, out there in the snow. Your eyes fly open and you race after the others. Leia seems to have disappeared but Han’s standing by the Millennium Falcon with C3PO and R2D2.

 

“Something’s wrong!” you cry, running up to them.

 

Han turns with a frown. “What?”

 

“Something’s wrong with Luke, something’s happened to him, I can feel it!” you pant. “I used the Force, he needs help!”

 

“But, Mistress _(Y/N),_ nobody knows where he is,” C3PO puts in.

 

Your heart lurches and Han looks worried. “What do you mean “nobody knows?” he asks.

 

“Well, uh, you see...” C3PO begins.

 

“Deck Officer!” Han calls, turning. “Deck Officer!”

 

“Excuse me, Sir, might I inqu-?”

 

C3PO is abruptly silenced as Han puts his hand over the droid’s mouth and asks the Deck officer “Do you know where Commander Skywalker is?”

 

“I haven’t seen him,” the Officer replies. “It’s possible he came in through the south entrance.”

 

“It’s _possible?”_ Han repeats, incredulously. “Why don’t you go and find out? It’s getting dark out there.”

 

“Yes, sir,” the Officer replied, leaving.

 

You hurry after him, leaving the droids with Han, but you discover that Luke hasn’t come back through the south entrance. Now thoroughly worried, you jog back to Han with the Officer on your heels.

 

“He’s not come that way,” you say.

 

“He might have forgotten to check in,” the Officer suggests.

 

“Not Luke,” you say. “That’d be the first thing he’d do.”

 

“Are the speeders ready?” Han asks.

 

“Not yet, we’re having some trouble adapting them to the cold,” the Officer replies.

 

“Then we’ll have to go out on Tauntauns,” Han replies.

 

“Sir, the temperature’s dropping too rapidly,” the Officer protests.

 

“That’s right,” Han replies, “and my friend’s out in it.”

 

“I’ll go with you,” you say as Han pushes past the officers and mounts a Tauntaun.

 

“No, you stay here, _(Y/N),”_ Han replies. “No sense in my risking both our lives out there.” You look away from him, trying hard not to start crying, because you’re frightened that he won’t find Luke out there alive. Then, Han touches your shoulder and you look up at him. His expression is sincere and kind. “I’ll find him, _(Y/N),_ I promise.”

 

“Your Tauntaun’ll freeze before you reach the first marker,” the Deck Officer protests.

 

“Then I’ll see you in Hell,” Han retorts, before manoeuvring his Tauntaun out of the cave and into the night.

 

“I trust you, Han!” you call after him, your shoulders slumping as you watch him leave. Mournfully, you turn back to the Falcon and lean against it, trying, and failing, to conceal your worry from everyone around you. Chewbacca comes up and roars gently to you. You don’t speak Wookiee fluently, but you’re beginning to understand the gist of what he says simply by the level of his roars and growls. “I’ve got every faith that Han’ll find Luke, Chewie,” you tell him. “I just hope they both come back alive.”

 

Dusk soon sets in and neither of them are back yet. R2D2 starts keeping a vigil by the door and scans the area for any sign of them, but finds nothing. Leia soon joins you and the pair of you stand in the entrance to the base with Chewbacca and the droids, waiting for any sign from them. Eventually a Lieutenant comes up and reports that there’s still no contact from Han or Luke, and C3PO admits that R2D2 can’t pick up any signals.

 

“Your Highness,” Major Derlin says to Leia, “there’s nothing more we can do tonight. The shield doors must be closed.”

 

Your head shoots up. “No!”

 

“Miss _(Y/L/N),_ we have no choice,” the Major insists.

 

You spring to your feet. “You can’t just lock them out! They could be on their way back right now!”

 

“I’m sorry, Miss _(Y/L/N)-”_

“You can’t just give up!” you shout.

 

 _“(Y/N),”_ Leia says, gently, touching your arm to calm you down. “There’s nothing else we can do.”

 

“Close the doors,” the Major tells his Lieutenant.

 

“Yes, Sir,” the man replies, walking away to do so.

 

Chewbacca lets out a long, mournful howl as the doors close.

 

“R2 says the chances of survival-” C3PO begins but you don’t want to hear, you turn and stride away from the entrance as fast as you can walk without actually running. Automatically, your feet take you into the Falcon and the room where you and Luke once practised your lightsaber skills with a Seeker remote and slam your hands down on the table in frustration and annoyance. Tears spring to your eyes as you playback the events in your mind that led you to this position; being with Luke when he and his uncle Owen bought R2D2 and C3PO from Jawas, not knowing that they had vital information that could help bring down the Empire; following Ben Kenobi in the ways of the Jedi; riding to the Death Star to rescue Leia with Han and Chewbacca; destroying the Death Star later on, just you, Luke and Han...

 

You sink into a seat as your legs begin to shake and force yourself to stop crying, but it’s not easy. You know that the others do care about Luke, but right now it doesn’t feel like they’re doing enough to try and help him, even though deep down you know there’s not much else they can do.

 

“Please be alright, Luke,” you murmur. After all, you don’t want your last words to him to have been “I’ll bet you a new lightsaber you fall off your Tauntaun.”

 

_“(Y/N)...(Y/N)!”_

 

You jump suddenly and look up to see a ghostly vision of Ben standing in front of you, large as life, and you blink in alarm, wondering if you somehow fell asleep without meaning to.

 

“Ben?” you whisper.

 

“You and Luke will go to the Degobah System,” Ben says, seriously.

 

You spring up. “Degobah System?”

 

“There you will both learn from Yoda, the Jedi Master who instructed me,” Ben goes on.

 

You stare at him. “Is this real..?” Then, you shake your head. “No, I can’t go to the Degobah System. I have to wait for Luke to get back-!”

 

“He’s alright, _(Y/N),”_ Ben interrupts, before he fades out of existence. “He’s alright...”

 

“Ben, wait!” you exclaim, stepping forwards, but he’s gone.

 

Unable to believe it, you sink back into your seat and close your eyes, willing what you’ve seen to be real. Luke has to be alright if Ben says it, you know, he would never lie to you. Leaning against the back of your seat, you let yourself relax a bit and wind up falling asleep without meaning to. Your woken in the small hours by a bang on the side of the ship and as you come to your senses, you hear someone calling “Hurry, get the bacta tank ready for him!”

 

You spring to your feet and hurry out of the ship in time to see a medical stretcher being brought into the hanger. Han jogs alongside it and someone else is stretched out on top of it. “Luke!” you shout, running to his side. He’s cold and delirious, muttering in his sleep something that sounds like “Ben...Yoda...Degobah System...” Relieved, you lay a hand on his forehead, ignoring the dreadful stink that both he and Han are coated in. “You’re going to be alright, Luke,” you murmur, before glancing up at Han. “What happened?”

 

“I found him half frozen and scratched up in the snow,” Han explains, shaking his head. “But he’ll pull through.”

 

“And what do you both _smell of?”_ you ask, wrinkling your nose.

 

“Ah...” Han gives you a sheepish look. “Tauntaun guts. I had to keep him warm somehow.”

 

You smile, softly. “You saved his life.”

 

“Yeah, again,” Han mutters, rolling his eyes.

 

You lean over and kiss Luke’s forehead, and he murmurs something that sounds like your name. “I’m right here, Luke,” you whisper, tenderly. “Everything’s going to be fine.”


	2. A Kiss Can Make You Cry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Luke have become Rebels alongside Leia, Han, Chewbacca, C3PO and R2D2 but it isn’t long before you find yourself sent to a completely new planet to train with a Jedi Master. However, your troubles are far from over as Darth Vader is intent on capturing you and Luke by whatever means possible, and tensions run high when he decides to use your friends as bait. Meanwhile, the pair of you are still struggling with your feelings for each other; Luke thinks that they’re completely platonic whilst you know for a fact they are something more...

Everyone tells you that you need to get some rest, but you insist on staying with Luke throughout his whole healing process. The bacta tank kind of freaks you out a bit, but whatever its purpose, it certainly gets Luke slowly back on his feet. In fact, the process is so slow that when you’re called away to check on the comlinks again, which is always a long and tedious job because there are so many, you don’t expect him to be up on his feet just yet, so you decide you can spare a few hours working.

 

When you’re finally done, you groan and rub your forehead, wishing you’d been put on some job other than maintenance checks. Still, you reflect, someone’s got to do it.

 

“What’s taking you so long?”a voice asks right behind you.

 

You spin around and grin at your best friend. “Luke!” Springing up, you fling yourself at him for hug before pulling away and fixing him with a stern look. “You’re meant to be resting, Mister!”

 

“What; I can’t come and see my best friend first?” Luke asks, cheekily as you grab his arm and drag him to the recovery room.

 

“Sit there,” you order, pushing him playfully onto the bed. You sit down by his knees and give him a fond look. “You really scared me, you know, you’d better not do that again.”

 

“I’m sorry, I clearly wasn’t thinking about how much worry I’d cause you when I got abducted and almost eaten by a Wampa,” Luke retorts, nudging you playfully.

 

You look at him in surprise. “How’d you escape?”

 

“I used the Force.” Luke frowns. “The surgeons said you were the one who figured out I was in trouble; how’d you do that?”

 

“I used the Force,” you reply and you exchange a smile.

 

“Master Luke, it’s so good to see you fully functional again,” C3PO declares as he enters the room with a beeping R2D2. “R2 expresses his relief, also.”

 

There’s a growl as Chewbacca and Han come into the room. “How you feeling, kid?” Han asks, as they both look Luke over. “You don’t look so bad. In fact, you look strong enough to pull the ears off a Gundark.”

 

“Thanks to you,” Luke replies.

 

“That’s two you owe me, junior,” Han states, straightening up as Leia also enters the room. He turns to her with a roguish grin. “Well, your Worship, looks like you managed to keep me around for a little while longer.”

 

“I had nothing to do with it,” Leia retorts, haughtily. “General Rieekan thinks it’s dangerous for any ships to leave the system until we’ve activated the energy shield.”

 

“That’s a good story,” Han grins. “I think you just can’t bear to let a gorgeous guy like me out of your sight.”

 

“I don’t know where you get your delusions, laser-brain,” Leia replies, coolly.

 

Chewbacca laughs.

 

“Laugh it up, fuzzball,” Han comments to him, before turning to you and Luke. “But you two didn’t see us alone in the south passage.” He moves closer to Leia and puts an arm around her shoulder. “She expressed her true feelings for me.”

 

“Oh, _really?”_ you tease, grinning at Leia as she blushes brighter than Darth Vader’s lightsaber.

 

“My-? Why you...stuck-up...half-witted...scruffy-looking...nerf-herder!” Leia exclaims as Han moves away from her.

 

“Who’s scruffy-looking?” Han asks, indignantly.

 

You can’t help laughing. _“That’s_ what you’re taking away from all that, Han?”

 

“I must have hit pretty close to the mark to get her all riled up like that, huh, kid?” Han asks Luke.

 

Leia gives him a defiant look and moves closer to you. You get up and move, thinking she might want to sit down, and besides you’ve got more work to get back to now you’ve finished with the comlinks, so you might as well give up your seat. What you don’t expect is for her to say to Han “Well, I guess you don’t know everything about women yet,” and then kiss Luke passionately on the lips before leaving. You watch her leave before turning back to the others. They all look rather stunned, with the exception of Luke, who looks rather smug as he puts his hands behind his head and leans back in satisfaction...before he actually notices the hurt in your eyes. With a loud sigh, you turn and march out of the room, leaving them all staring after you.

 

“Headquarters personnel, report to the command centre,” announces a voice over the main comlink in the hanger.

 

You know that means you too, so you make your way to the command centre, not looking at Leia as you pass her. Rieekan looks up as you all come in. “Princess, we have a visitor,” he says, indicating the console screen in front of him. You hurry over with the others to see what he means. “We’ve picked up something outside the base in Zone 12, moving east.”

 

“It’s metal,” the Senior Controller adds.

 

“Then it couldn’t be one of those creatures that attacked Luke,” Leia notes.

 

“Could be a speeder, one of ours,” Han suggests.

 

“No, wait, there’s something very weak coming through,” the Controller says.

 

A small, piecing signal sounds through the speakers by the screen. C3PO steps forward. “Sir, I am fluent in over six million forms of communication. This signal is not used by the Alliance. It could be an Imperial code.”

 

“It isn’t friendly, whatever it is,” Han says as your blood goes cold at the thought of the Imperial Troopers having found you. After all, since you, Luke and Han wiped out their Death Star, they’ve probably got a bone or six to pick with the Rebels. “Come on, Chewie, let’s check it out.”

 

“Send Rogues Ten and Eleven to station three-eight,” Rieekan commands as they leave.

 

You wait with the others as Han and Chewie scout around outside, and eventually they report in, or rather Han does, reporting that he’s hit some kind of droid that self-destructed on impact, which Leia identifies as an Imperial Probe Droid, so it’s a good bet the Empire’s found you.

 

“We’d better start the evacuation,” Rieekan says.

 

With alarms sounding all around you, you hurry to grab what little things you have with you on Hoth and scrabble into your orange pilot uniform. Making your way out into the hanger, you smile as you spot Chewbacca over by the Falcon and walk up to him.

 

“See you, Chewie,” you say, going up and hugging the Wookiee. Chewie grunts a respond and returns the hug. As you pull away, you spot Luke coming up to you, also dressed for flying.

 

“Chewie, take care of yourself,” he says, patting Chewbacca’s arm. The second he turns around, though, Chewbacca grabs him for a hug too, much to his surprise and you giggle at how affectionate the Wookiee can be, wondering how Luke could ever have been a tiny bit afraid of him. “Okay, okay,” Luke laughs, patting Chewbacca to release him before you both look over at where Han’s talking to a repair droid.

 

“You alright?” Han asks when he spots you, sending the repair droid to check something.

 

“Yeah,” Luke answers, glancing at you, and you nod.

 

“Be careful,” Han advises.

 

“You too, Han,” you say, before you and Luke make your way to your speeder.

 

“Listen, I need to tell you something,” Luke says, confidentially.

 

“Oh?” you say, trying to sound as casual as possible as you toss your helmet into the air and catch it in both hands, trying to act light and breezy, and all the while hoping against hope that he’s not about to tell you he’s developed feelings for Leia. That would kill you. If it was anyone else, you might be able to cope, but Leia’s your friend and if she felt the same way, that would break your heart.

 

“When I was out there in the storm, I saw Ben,” Luke says, and you relax. “And he said we need to-”

 

“Got to the Degobah System,” you finish, nodding. “He came to me too.”

 

“Right, so...what do you think?”

 

“I think we need to listen to him.”

 

Luke gets distracted by another pilot needing assistance, so you jog up to your speeder alone and begin checking it over to make sure it’s completely ready for get-away. Leia comes up to you.

 

“Are you okay?” she asks.

 

“Yep,” you say, stiffly, not looking at her.

 

“You know what to do? When you’ve gotten past the energy shields, you and Luke need to get immediately to the rendezvous point.”

 

“Got it.”

 

 _“(Y/N),_ have I done something to upset you?”

 

You stop what you’re doing, sigh and turn to her, hands on hips. “You kissed Luke...and he seemed to enjoy it. That’s what’s upsetting me.”

 

“Oh.” Leia walks up to you. _“(Y/N),_ I’m sorry, I had no idea-”

 

“I’m not mad at you,” you admit, truthfully. “I’m mad at myself for falling for someone so...perfect...” You get back to the speeder, pretending to rub a mark off it. “...and good...and stubborn...who probably wouldn’t react that way if _I_ kissed him like that.” You stop and rub your eyes with the back of your hand to get the dust out of them, not because you’re crying or anything. “I’m just his best friend.”

 

Leia puts a hand on your shoulder and turns you to face her. “I think you’re wrong,” she says, gently, before hugging you. “I think he cares about you more than he’s figured out.”

 

“Thanks, Leia,” you murmur, hugging her back.

 

She leaves to assume command and as Luke comes you, you shoot him a confident smile and jump into your seat. “At least we’re together this time,” you point out. “Now we’ve literally got each other’s backs.”

 

Luke laughs. “We’ll have R2 with us on our way out as well.”

 

“Yes!” you grin.

 

Both of you lower the hoods of your speeder and strap yourselves in before flying out with the others. From your position, you can’t see the Imperial Walkers in front of Luke, but you know that whatever he’s facing can’t be good.

 

“Alright, boys, keep tight now,” Luke says into his comlink.

 

You notice something in your end of the speeder. “Uh-oh, that’s not good,” you mutter, before reporting “Luke, I haven’t got an approach vector, I’m not set.”

 

“It’ll be alright, _(Y/N),”_ Luke replies, calmly, before commanding “Attack pattern delta, go now!” Two speeders race past you and towards the Walkers. “Alright, we’re coming in. Hobbie, you still with us?”

 

The reply comes in the affirmative as your speeder heads straight for the side of the Walker, and you set off a volley of fire at Luke’s instructions. “Did we hit it?” you call.

 

“Yeah, but the armour’s too strong for our blasters,” Luke responds.

 

“Right...” you murmur before you get an idea. “Luke, would tripping it do anything?”

 

“Could...” Luke murmurs before nodding. “Yeah. Rogue Group, use your harpoons and tow cables. Go for the legs. It might be our only chance of stopping them. Alright, stand by, _(Y/N).”_

 

You ready yourself, but something’s wrong, there’s a button flashing in front of you to indicate a malfunction. You groan, wondering who last checked this thing. “Luke, there’s a problem with the fire control, I don’t know what, but something’s wrong down there.”

 

“Just hang on,” Luke calls back. “Get ready to fire that tow cable.”

 

You immediately programme the harpoon gun to fire but a sudden explosion causes you to throw yourself down in your seat. Thankfully, your ship isn’t engulfed by it, but it’s pretty badly hit.

 

 _“(Y/N)!”_ Luke shouts, twisting about to check on you. “Are you alright?”

 

“Yeah,” you cough, recovering from the effect of the blast. Your uniform’s been a bit singed but thankfully you’ve not been burned. Your console, however, is another matter. Even as you attempt to get the controls to do something, you know it’s useless. “But we’ve lost our firepower. The harpoon guns are okay, though. Sorry.”

 

“Not your fault, _(Y/N),”_ Luke reminds you, relieved that you’re alright. “Rogue Three?”

 

“Copy, Rogue Leader,” Wedge says into his comlink.

 

“Wedge, we’ve lost our main guns,” Luke says. “You’ll have to make this shot, we’ll cover you. Set your harpoon. Follow me on the next pass.”

 

“Coming around, Rogue Leader,” Wedge replies.

 

“Steady, Rogue Two,” Luke murmurs.

 

Wedge’s speeder shoots past you and you twist about in your seat to see it fire a harpoon into one of the Walker’s legs. It swings the cable around the legs several times before cutting it loose and flying out of reach as the enormous Walker stumbles and goes down like an animal in a trap.

 

“Yes!” you whisper, throwing up your hands in triumph.

 

Luke nods, grinning at you. “Good call, _(Y/N).”_

 

“Whooha! That got him!” Wedge calls.

 

“We saw it, Wedge, good work,” Luke congratulates.

 

“Well, that’s one down and...” You glance past Luke again and squint into the distance. “Three to go. Not bad leadership, Skywalker.”

 

Luke shoots you a grin as Rogue Two comes around and you ready yourselves for another attack but before you can get close enough to the Walker, Rogue Two is hit by a laser bolt and being in such close proximity to it as it explodes, your ship gets hit too.

 

“Luke!” you yelp.

 

“Hobbie, we’ve been hit!” Luke shouts into the comlink.

 

“We’ll make an emergency landing!” you shout.

 

Luke steers the speeder to the ground and you both scrabble out, snatching up the harpoon guns as you go, amid a stream of hurrying Rebels, all tripping over themselves to get away from the three remaining Walkers. Luke quickly formulates a plan. “You’ve got your lightsaber?”

 

“Always,” you answer.

 

“Right, come on.”

 

You copy him as he takes aim and fires, and the harpoons drive themselves firmly into the underside of the Walker. You have no idea what Luke’s planning but you trust him, so you don’t question his reasons. You allow yourselves to be lifted up, swinging beneath the Walker and being pulled upwards by your harpoons. Luke draws his lightsaber and you realise what he’s got planned as you pull out yours and ignite it. Together you cut a hole in the underside of the Walker and Luke thrusts a small explosive device, primed and ready to go, inside before you both snap off your harpoons and land in the snow. Raising your head, you see the Walker stop and explode, collapsing into itself and slowly falling over onto its side.

 

“Good thinking,” you comment.

 

With ships exploding all around you, you both know you need to get away from Hoth now. Scrabbling to your feet, you’re just in time to see the Millennium Falcon speed off overhead. Luke grabs your arm and you both run as fast as you can through the thick snow to where your fighter ships are situated. Yours is a newer model that doesn’t need help from an R2 unit, which is just as well, because you’d only want R2D2 with you in the Degobah System anyway, any other droid would just get in the way. As you reach them, you fling yourselves in and take off into the sky. Once away from Hoth, you relax a bit and reprogram your course for Degobah, before you hear Luke and R2D2 conversing through your comlink.

 

“There’s nothing wrong, R2, we’re just setting a new course,” Luke says. R2D2 beeps, curiously. “We’re not going to regroup with the others.” Another questioning beep. “We’re going to the Degobah System.”

 

“Oooh!” R2D2 whistles.

 

You just smile and shake your head, wondering kind of planet you’re all going to end up on next.

 


	3. Yoda

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Luke have become Rebels alongside Leia, Han, Chewbacca, C3PO and R2D2 but it isn’t long before you find yourself sent to a completely new planet to train with a Jedi Master. However, your troubles are far from over as Darth Vader is intent on capturing you and Luke by whatever means possible, and tensions run high when he decides to use your friends as bait. Meanwhile, the pair of you are still struggling with your feelings for each other; Luke thinks that they’re completely platonic whilst you know for a fact they are something more...

Before too long, your two X-wing fighters are speeding closer towards the cloudy cover of Degobah.

 

“Is that it?” you ask, checking your computer.

 

“Apparently,” Luke replies, checking his own. “I’m not picking up any cities or technology.”

 

“Massive life readings, though,” you point out. “Something’s alive down there.”

 

R2D2 beeps, questioningly.

 

“Yes, R2, I’m sure it’s perfectly safe for droids,” Luke smiles.

 

You prepare to make a landing, but there seems to be something wrong with Luke’s fighter as suddenly the whole thing begins to jolt and shudder. “Luke, what’s happening?”

 

“All the scopes are dead,” Luke reports back. “I can’t see a thing. Just hang on, R2, I’m going to start a landing cycle.”

 

You focus on getting your own ship safely to the ground, although with the thick fog around the planet’s atmosphere obscuring your vision, you barely miss landing in the lake and only just manage to swerve at the last minute to touch down, rather bumpily, on solid ground. Luke, however, isn’t so lucky, as his fighter goes straight into the swamp.

 

“Luke!” You quickly scramble out of your ship and hurry over to where his is half-sunk in the lake, but he seems to be alright as he climbs out of the ship and looks around. You breathe out in relief and put your hands on your hips, looking around you. There’s nothing for miles but trees. “Just to be clear, Ben _did_ say Degobah, right?”

 

“Definitely,” Luke replies. “No, R2, you stay put,” he adds as R2D2 pops out of his little hatch at the back of the fighter. “We’re going to have a look around.”

 

You both turn and make your way towards the trees, but a sudden splash makes you both whirl around as you realise that R2D2’s overbalanced and fallen straight into the lake. You both run forwards, yelling “R2? R2!” as you scan the lake for signs of life.

 

“Where are you?” Luke exclaims, and at that point a small periscope pops up in front of you and you let out a tiny laugh of relief, knowing it belongs to R2D2. Luke shakes his head. “You be more careful,” he scolds, and then, as R2D2 moves in the opposite direction, points the right way and says “R2, _that_ way!”

 

As R2D2 begins to move in the right direction, you both straighten up and walk alongside the lake, neither of you noticing a dark shape moving through the water towards the droid, although a few steps on you stop, feeling the hairs on the back of your neck prickle.

 

“Um, Luke?” you say, catching his sleeve.

 

“What is it?” Luke asks, turning to you.

 

Before you can say anything, there’s a tiny scream from R2D2 and his periscope is dragged under the water as something large and dark follows after him.

 

“R2!” you both shout, running forwards. Luke ignites his lightsaber as you scan the lake for any signs of him, and then shake your head.

 

“Not R2...” you murmur.

 

Then, with a high-pitched, almost-human-sounding scream, a very dirty R2D2 is flung up into the air from the lake, soaring over the pair of you in a perfect arc, and comes to ground with a crash amid a pile of moss.

 

“Oh, no,” Luke mutters as you both run up to him.

 

“Poor R2,” you smile, sympathetically, because the little droid’s landed upside down. Together, you and Luke pick him up and set him back on his feet.

 

“Are you alright?” Luke asks him. “You’re lucky you don’t taste very good.” R2D2 makes a sorrowful whimper that tugs at your heart “Anything broken?”

 

R2D2 makes a feeble beep that sounds like a negative.

 

“What was that about it being safe for droids?” you ask, pulling weeds and roots off R2D2.

 

“Yeah,” Luke agrees, helping you. “If he’s saying coming here was a bad idea, I’m beginning to agree with him.” He sighs. “What are we doing here, _(Y/N)?”_

 

“I don’t know, it wasn’t _my_ idea,” you remind him. “It was Ben’s. Although why he thinks we’d find a Jedi Master in this slimy mudhole is beyond me.”

 

“It’s like something out of a dream,” Luke muses. “Or, I don’t know, maybe we’re just going crazy.”

 

R2D2 suddenly spits a spurt of dirty water out from one of his ports and you nod, feeling that you were better off on Hoth after all. Still, you resign yourself to getting R2D2 as clean as possible and once you’re done, you and Luke go back to the ships and pull out your equipment and food containers, by which time the mist has dispersed, but the atmosphere’s still gloomy and eerie.

 

“Ready for some power?” Luke asks R2D2, who bleeps eagerly in the affirmative. “Okay, there you go.”

 

You smile as you watch Luke plug R2D2 into the power unit, noting that once not too long ago Luke had mentioned that the little droid would be nothing but trouble, but now even he had grown fond of him. Glancing around you, your smile fades. “I hope the only dangerous things in this place are in the lake.”

 

“Do you need me to hold your hand?” Luke teases.

 

You shoot him a coy scowl. “I haven’t needed you to hold my hand in years.”

 

“What about on the Death Star when we got stuck in the garbage unit?”

 

“I wasn’t _that_ scared. Not like Chewie, anyway.”

 

You share a laugh. It occurs to you that it’s been a while since you two were able to just talk like this, like old times. Ever since you first met Ben, most of your conversations had been to do with Rebel tactics, battle strategies and equipment blowouts. It was nice to be back to normal.

 

Opening your food container, you take out a cracker and bite into it, looking around you again. “You’ve got to admit, though, Luke, it’s hardly cosy here. It’s like a wetter version of Tatooine.”

 

“Well, hopefully we’ll soon find this Yoda...if he even exists,” Luke replies, opening his own container and taking a bit of the processed food inside. “It’s really a strange place to find a Jedi Master.”

 

“It gives me the creeps,” you agree.

 

“Still...” Luke shrugs. “There’s something familiar about this place. I don’t know...I feel like...”

 

You feel another prickling sensation touch your skin, and then a voice says “Feel like what?”

 

Together, you draw your blasters and turn to see a small, green-skinned creature with long ears sitting behind you. At the sight of your blasters, it shields itself with one hand and you notice it’s dressed in what look like old robes of some kind.

 

“Like we’re being watched!” Luke finishes.

 

“Away put your weapons, I mean you no harm!” the creature exclaims. Slowly, you lower your blaster as it faces you. It has a wizened little face, like an old man’s, and a thinning patch of white hair around its head. “I am wondering,” it adds, looking at you curiously, “why are you here?”

 

“We’re looking for someone,” Luke says, carefully.

 

“Looking?” The creature chuckles. “Found someone, you have, I would say, hm?”

 

“Right,” Luke agrees, finally deciding this creature isn’t hostile and pocketing his blaster.

 

“Although you’re probably not who we were expecting,” you add, pocketing your own blaster.

 

“Help you, I can,” the creature adds. “Yes.”

 

“I don’t think so,” Luke replies. “We’re looking for a great warrior.”

 

“Oh?” The creature chuckles as it climbs down from the branch it was formerly sitting on and stands up on its own two feet. You note that it uses a walking stick and is even smaller than R2D2. “Great warrior? Wars not make one great.”

 

Luke gets to his feet as the creature moves to examine your equipment. “Put that down, will you..?” he begins as the creature picks up a piece of his food and then takes a bite out of it. “Hey!” Luke exclaims, grabbing it from the creature’s clawed hands. “That’s my dinner!”

 

You try not to laugh as the creature pulls a disgusted face and turns to you. “How your friend get so big eating food of this kind?”

 

“Listen, friend,” Luke says, getting rather annoyed now as the creature climbs onto R2D2’s power unit, causing the droid to bleep worriedly. “We didn’t mean to land in that puddle, and if we could get our ship out, we would, but we can’t, so why don’t you just-?”

 

“Aw, you can’t get your ship out?” the creature mocks, rummaging through the stuff in your equipment box.

 

“Hey!” you exclaim, springing to your feet as Luke exclaims at the same time “Get out of there!” He grabs something from the creature before it can touch it with an exclamation of “You could have broken this!” The creature shrugs and starts throwing other bits of equipment out over its shoulder. “Don’t do that,” Luke sighs, picking everything up. He sounds like he’s dealing with a small child, you note. _Heaven help us if we ever have children,_ you think, automatically, and then blush at the thought. Luckily, Luke’s too distracted by the creature’s antics to notice. “You’re making a mess,” he says.

 

You decide to step in as the creature chuckles wickedly, having found the tiny power lamp Luke packed earlier in the day, and go over to him. “Alright, little guy, that’s enough of that.” You pick him up, the creature protesting half-heartedly, and set him back down on the ground before attempting to take the lamp back from him. “Give me that.”

 

“Mine!” the creature insists, tugging it out of your reach. “Or I will help you not!”

 

You put your hands on your hips. “We don’t want your help.”

 

“She’s right, we want the lamp back, we’re going to need it to get out of this slimy mudhole,” Luke adds.

 

“Mudhole?” the creature repeats as Luke tries and fails to get the lamp back. “Slimy?” You notice R2D2 suddenly and subtly reaching out a small claw from with his metal body to grab the lamp back. “My home this is.” R2D2 successfully grabs the lamp but the creature puts up a determined fight as they both begin a tug-of-war over the small power light. “Mmhm!” the creature grunts in determination, grabbing his stick and beating on R2D2. “Mine, mine, mine, mine..!”

 

“R2, let him have it,” Luke sighs. R2D2 doesn’t give up and neither does the creature, still hitting the droid with his stick until Luke says in a firmer tone “R2!” and reluctantly R2D2 lets go of the lamp. With a chuckle, the creature snaps the hatch on R2D2 shut with his stick. “Now, will you move along, little fella? We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

 

“No, no, no!” the creature insists. “Stay and help you, I will! Find your friend!”

 

“We’re not looking for a friend,” you sigh, rubbing your forehead. “We’re looking for a Jedi Master.”

 

“Oh...Jedi Master?” The creature looks even more interested now. “Yoda, you seek Yoda!”

 

You both crouch in front of him as Luke exclaims “You know him?”

 

“Mmhm!” the creature agrees, nodding. “Take you to him, I will. Yes, yes, but now we must eat. Come, good food, come.” You both turn and watch him pad off into the distance, before he turns and calls again “Come! Come!”

 

With a shrug, you get up and walk over to him.

 

“R2, stay and watch the camp,” Luke says, decisively, before following you. “Think he’s on the level?” he mutters to you.

 

“Well, we can always get R2 to blast him if he isn’t,” you shrug, before jogging to catch up to the creature.

 

“Hey, wait up!” Luke calls, running after you. You giggle, feeling like you’re both six all over again, like the first day you met, when you played together after he saved you from Del Beren and his cronies. You’d chased one another around the play-yard that day too, although Luke often had trouble keeping up with you back then. Now, though, you reflect, he’s grown...and so have you.

 

The creature leads you to a little hut just as it begins to rain, heavily. _Poor R2,_ you think, _stuck out in this._ Inside the hut, though, it’s warm and cosy, if very basic, and the creature immediately begins throwing food together in a pot over the fire. The only drawback in this place, you note, is the fact that it’s so small that you and Luke have to crouch to avoid banging your heads on the ceiling.

 

“Look,” Luke says, eventually, as the creature babbles on about “good food,” and goes about cooking it, “I’m sure it’s delicious. I just don’t understand why we can’t see Yoda now.”

 

“Patience,” the creature insists. “For the Jedi, it is time to eat as well.”

 

You take the initiative to work your way over to the pot and fill a small bowl with what looks like a general mashing of food, but which tastes surprisingly good. “You need to try this,” you tell Luke. “It’s good.”

 

Luke comes over and helps himself to some food. “How far away is Yoda?” he calls to the creature. “Will it take us long to get there?”

 

“Not far, Yoda not far,” the creature replies, coming up to you. “Patience. Soon you will be with him. Rootleaf, I cook,” he explains as you and Luke squash up to make room for him. Actually, in such a confined space you and Luke have to sit very close together and you’re trying very, very hard not to end up actually sitting on him. “Why wish you become Jedi, hm?” he asks you.

 

“Because...” You think about it for a second. “Because my mother was one. I think she’d want me to be one too.”

 

The creature turns to Luke and makes a “Hm?” that indicates he wants him to answer the same question.

 

“Mostly because of my father, I guess,” Luke admits.

 

“Ah, your father,” the creature muses. “Powerful Jedi, was he, Powerful Jedi, and she,” he adds looking at you. “Wonderful team, were they.”

 

“Oh, come on, how could you know them? You don’t even know who _we_ are!” Luke puts down his bowl in frustration as you toy with your food, contemplating your answer to the creature’s question. “I don’t even know what we’re doing here! We’re wasting our time!”

 

You sigh, waiting for his frustrations to spill out. The creature turns away from you and says to thin air, it seems, “I cannot teach them. The boy has no patience, the girl lacks confidence.”

 

You both look up in surprise as Ben’s voice answers from nowhere “They will learn patience, and confidence.”

 

The creature turns to the pair of you and murmurs “Much anger in him, like his father.”

 

“Was I any different when you taught me?” Ben asks.

 

You realise that the creature you’ve been talking to, the little green mischievous thing that stole Luke’s lamp and tried to eat his dinner, is Yoda.

 

“Ha! They are not ready!” Yoda declares.

 

“Yoda?” you ask, leaning forwards.

 

“We _are_ ready!” Luke protests. “Ben, we can be Jedi! Ben, tell him we’re ready!” He makes to get up but abruptly hits his head on the ceiling.

 

You roll your eyes as he rubs his head, sheepishly. “My grandfather would say don’t try to fly before you can walk, Luke.”

 

“Ready, are you?” Yoda challenges. “What know you of ready? For eight hundred years have I trained Jedi. My own counsel will I keep on who is to be trained. A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind.” You and Luke nod, listening as Yoda speaks to the invisible Ben again. “These two a long time have I watched...all their lives have they looked away...to the future. Never their minds on where they were, hm?” He prods Luke with his stick. “What they were doing! Hmph! Adventure? Heh! Excitement? Heh! A Jedi craves not those things.” He turns to Luke. “You are reckless.” He turns to you. “You...self-doubting.”

 

“So was I, if you remember,” Ben says.

 

“They are too old,” Yoda insists. “Yes, too old to begin the training.”

 

“But we’ve learned so much,” Luke persists.

 

“And we can’t give up if it’s in our blood,” you add. “The Force is strong with us.”

 

Yoda sighs and looks at you both. “Will they finish what they begin?”

 

You both nod. “We won’t fail you,” Luke promises. “We’re not afraid.”

 

“Oh?” Yoda looks surprised. “You will be. You. Will. Be.”


	4. Past and Present

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Luke have become Rebels alongside Leia, Han, Chewbacca, C3PO and R2D2 but it isn’t long before you find yourself sent to a completely new planet to train with a Jedi Master. However, your troubles are far from over as Darth Vader is intent on capturing you and Luke by whatever means possible, and tensions run high when he decides to use your friends as bait. Meanwhile, the pair of you are still struggling with your feelings for each other; Luke thinks that they’re completely platonic whilst you know for a fact they are something more...

“Unconfident...?”

 

You stand in the midst of the forest with R2D2 the next morning, contemplating what Yoda said to you the night before. Actually, you were contemplating it all the night before and it’s the reason you’re up so early now, pacing about before Luke’s even awake.

 

“When have I ever been unconfident, R2?” you ask. The droid whistles and beeps, sounding like he’s telling you that he doesn’t know or can’t think of a particular incident. “Self-doubting?” You kick at a rock on the ground, turning it over. “Well...maybe...” you admit, eventually. “I mean...what if I’m no good at it, R2? What if I can’t live up to my mother?”

 

R2D2 bleeps something and whistles.

 

“I just want her to be proud of me,” you sigh.

 

R2D2 whistles again, turning his head towards the fighter in the swamp.

 

You smile. “Yes, _and_ I want Luke to be proud of me too.” You take up your lightsaber and ignite it, fishing out the pocket Seeker droid Ben had initially started training you and Luke with on the Millennium Falcon three whole years ago. You’d taken it with you simply because you didn’t think that Han and Chewbacca would appreciate it just knocking around the ship. Activating it, you let it hover in front of you and raise your lightsaber, waiting for it to start its mini-attack. “But when he said we were ready, was he speaking for both of us...or just himself?”

 

The Seeker blasts at you and you defend yourself easily. On the next attempt, you close your eyes and wait until you can feel you’re about to be hit by one of its lasers. You move the lightsaber and hear the sound of it making contact with the blast, defending you from it again. Putting the remote into sleep mode for a second, you pick up the strip of cloth you’d left on top of R2D2, torn from an old blanket, and tie it around your eyes before reaching to switch the remote back on again. “Right,” you murmur, saber at the ready. “Let’s do this.”

 

With the remote blasting at you at random moments, you begin a smooth dance of battling against its firepower, learning where you’re going by reaching out with the Force. You avoid the swamp, ignoring R2D2 whistling to congratulate you on your footwork, and begin to back up into the forest, your movements graceful and swift, and you forget everything else around you, just concentrating on the remote and letting the Force guide you. Even when you hear Luke call out _“(Y/N)?”_ your concentration doesn’t waver.

 

“Morning!” you call, defending another blast from the Seeker.

 

“What are you doing?” Luke asks.

 

“Practising,” you reply, holding two more blasts. “Being confident.”

 

 _“(Y/N),_ you’re not really taking that seriously, are you?” Luke asks, moving closer to you, although keeping out of the circle around the Seeker in case it hits him by accident. “You’re the most confident person I know.”

 

Your concentration wavers and as you get ready for another blast, you miscalculate and the blast whips past your lightsaber and stings the back of your hand. “Ow!” you exclaim, switching off your blade and yanking off your blindfold.

 

“Are you alright?” Luke asks, concerned.

 

“No!” you laugh, rubbing the back of your hand. “That was _your_ fault!”

 

“Sorry,” Luke grins.

 

You shake your head and check your hand. “I’ll be fine. At least it wasn’t an Imperial Blaster this time.”

 

“I didn’t even know you had that,” Luke says, gesturing to the remote.

 

You switch it off and pick it up as it falls to the floor. “Well...someone had to look after it.”

 

Yoda calls you over and you both walk in his direction to begin your training properly. It’s a lot more intense than you think as he sets you both on a course that involves running, climbing and jumping around the swamp. It’s not easy, in fact it’s exhausting, but after a while you learn to forget that you’re tired. You imagine that you and Luke are being pursued by Imperial Troopers and have no other option other than to outrun them, and soon Yoda’s nodding, impressed by your determination.

 

“Run! Yes...” Yoda whispers from his position on Luke’s back. You’ve been taking it in turns to carry him to make the training more of a challenge for both of you. “A Jedi’s strength flows from the Force. But beware of the Dark Side. Anger, fear, aggression, the Dark Side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight.” You shudder, remembering all the times you’ve actually been scared in your life; for some reason the incident at the cantina on Mos Eisley with those two escaped prisoners and Ben’s lightsaber springs to mind, when you’d been completely startled by them and your first reaction had been to ask for Luke to defend you. “If once you start down the dark path, then forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan’s apprentice.”

 

“Vader,” Luke agrees, nodding as you both stop to catch your breath. “Is the Dark Side stronger?”

 

“No, no, no,” Yoda replies, shaking his head. “Quicker, easier, more destructive.”

 

“You’re saying it’s harder to be on the good side than the bad?” you pant.

 

“Yes, yes,” Yoda agrees.

 

“But how are we to know the difference?” Luke asks.

 

“You will know,” Yoda replies, “when you are calm, at peace, passive. A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defence, never for attack.”

 

“But tell us why we can’t-” Luke begins.

 

“No, no, there is no why,” Yoda interrupts, shaking his head. “Nothing more will I teach you today. Clear your mind of questions, mmhm.”

 

Luke lowers him to the ground as you wander over to where you’ve both left your shirts hanging on a nearby tree. You quickly pulls yours on and sort your hair, noting that you must look a sight right now, and wondering how Leia can always manage to look so perfectly lovely no matter what she does. Thankfully, Luke’s nice enough not to tease you. He takes his shirt from you with a grateful nod and pulls it on, before glancing over at a huge black tree neither of you have noticed before, with twisted black roots forming an enormous dark cave on one side.

 

“There’s something not right here,” Luke murmurs, uneasily. “I feel cold...death...”

 

“That place is strong with the Dark Side of the Force,” Yoda explains. “A domain of evil, it is. In you must go.” You take a step forwards but he shakes his head. “No. Not you.”

 

“What’s in there?” Luke asks.

 

“Only what you take with you,” Yoda answers, mysteriously. Luke goes to pick up his weapon belt but Yoda shakes his head. “Your weapons...you will not need them.”

 

Luke straps his belt on anyway and glances at you. You shrug. Turning, Luke makes his way into the cave and you sit down beside Yoda to wait for him.

 

“Why not me too?” you ask, presently.

 

“Much anger has he in him,” Yoda replies, “but not you. More easily prone to the darker side of the Force, is he.”

 

You shake your head. “He won’t turn to it. Not Luke.”

 

Yoda looks after Luke, who’s disappeared into the cave now. “Thought the same about Vader, did everyone.”

 

“I know him,” you insist, firmly. “Yes, he’s headstrong and reckless sometimes...but that’s just one part of him. He’s not going to fall for the Dark Side. I know he won’t.”

 

Yoda says nothing and you wait for Luke to emerge from the cave. It doesn’t take long and when he does come back, he looks shaken, in fact he walks straight past you without even noticing you’re there.

 

“Luke?” You jump up and run after him, catching hold of his arms as he turns to you, looking pale and drawn. “Hey, what is it? What was in there?”

 

“Vader...”

 

Somehow that’s all he needs to say, you can guess the rest. You know that it couldn’t really have been Vader in there, otherwise Yoda wouldn’t have sent him there in the first place, it must have been a vision or something. You wrap him in a hug, feeling him trembling as he hugs you back, and reach out with the Force, your new-found insights telling you that Luke saw some of himself in that vision of Vader and it’s terrified him. The way he’s clinging to you now reminds you of the time you and he went exploring Tatooine after dark when you were both eight years old, and were almost caught by a group of Sandpeople (yes, they never even show mercy to children) and had got separated on the way home but ultimately run into each other just seconds from reaching your houses. He had clung to you like that then too, and you to him.

 

“It’s alright,” you breathe, rousing him back to his normal state of mind. “It’s alright...”

 

You don’t talk about the cave incident for a long time after that. As the days pass, Yoda’s training becomes more intense but not necessarily more difficult. You quickly master the basic movement skills and he starts to teach you to become one with the Force. One evening, however, after training, you wander past the cave on your way to Yoda’s to eat, having volunteered to be the one to plug in R2D2 after you and Luke are done with training, and somehow you feel it calling you. You stop and stare into the darkness, expecting something to come shooting suddenly out of it, one hand gripped on your lightsaber just in case it does. You wait, but nothing happens.

 

_“What’s in there?”_

_“Only what you take with you.”_

Deciding there’s probably nothing in there that can hurt you; you venture cautiously into the cave and look around. All you can see at first is the dimness of the place and it doesn’t seem too bad, just like everything else on this planet, creepy but not exactly threatening, and then suddenly your eyes adjust to the gloom and figures begin to emerge right in front of your eyes. You back off, and then realise that they’re not coming with weapons, they’re just three people; two men and one a younger girl, about nine or ten. They’re all dressed in ordinary farm-type clothing and brown cloaks...and each at their belt carries a lightsaber.

 

You furrow your brown, because the girl, with her _(Y/M/H/C)_ hair and _(Y/M/E/C)_ eyes looked familiar to you, like an old picture you’ve always kept with you ever since before you can remember.

 

“Mother..?”

 

The figures can’t seem to hear you, as they just keep walking towards you and pass you. You hear their conversation as they go.

 

“Do you really think the boy’s the Chosen One, Master?” the younger of the two men, who also looks familiar to you, asks.

 

“I have no doubt of it, Obi-Wan,” the older man replies.

 

“Obi-Wan?” you repeat, startled by how different Ben Kenobi looks as a young man compared to the older man you know now.

 

“But will the Jedi council let him train?” the girl asks. “I mean, we’ve only just met him, how are you supposed to convince them?”

 

“You leave that to me, _(Y/M/N),”_ the older Jedi replies with a fatherly smile. Obi-Wan ruffles the girl’s hair and she pushes him with a playful protest. They fade and almost instantly you see two more figures emerge right in front of your eyes. Your mother is there again, with a boy you don’t recognise about her age, and they’re training with remotes the way Obi-Wan made you and Luke do once before. Your mother’s brilliant at it but the boy can hold his own too.

 

“Nice one, Anakin!” she compliments.

 

“Thanks,” the boy replies with a cheeky grin. “You’re not too bad yourself, _(Y/M/N).”_

 

They fade and you blink before they’re replaced with more images. Now your mother is quite a bit older, almost your age, and training young children in the way Yoda’s been training you. You watch as she’s patient and tender with them, motherly even though she hasn’t even had you yet, helping a couple of the smaller ones when they don’t quite get it. Then, a new person walks into the scene, someone you haven’t seen yet but you feel a rush of familiarity towards.

 

“Hello, _(Y/F/N),”_ your mother smiles, straightening up. “Are you two just heading out?”

 

“Yeah, hopefully for the last time,” the man grins, handsomely, tossing his helmet up into the air and catching it in his hands the way you did back on Hoth. “The sooner this war’s over, the better.”

 

Your mother gives him a fond look. “Well...just be careful out there.”

 

“Hey, _(Y/F/N),_ you ready?” asks an older Anakin, walking into the picture too.

 

Your father nods. “As I’ll ever be. See you when I get back, _(Y/M/N).”_

 

“Look after him,” your mother says.

 

“I will,” Anakin grins cheekily at her.

 

“I was talking to _(Y/F/N)!”_ you mother calls after him as both men walk out of the room and along a corridor. Anakin’s face becomes serious as he turns to your father.

 

“Listen, I don’t want to burst your bubble or anything, _(Y/F/N),_ but you know she’s a Jedi now, right?”

 

“And?”

 

“And...it’s forbidden for Jedi to form romantic attachments. I mean, I’m just saying-”

 

“Come on, Annie, I know all about your little crush on Queen Amidala,” your father replies, grinning.

 

Anakin flushes. “That’s different. I was a kid.”

 

“And you don’t still think about her?” you father asks, serious now. “Chances are that _(Y/M/N)_ doesn’t feel the same about me, even though I can’t stop thinking about her no matter how hard I try.”

 

“Well...I suppose you could always keep it a secret,” Anakin suggests, and they both grin before fading.

 

You shake your head as a new image forms...one that makes you smile, your parents getting married...alongside Anakin and a beautiful woman who looks vaguely familiar, but unlike the others you can’t figure out where you might have seen her before. A double wedding, you realise, your parents and their good friend getting married on the same day. Your mother looks lovely in a white dress a bit like the one Leia lent you for your hero ceremony three years ago. Both couples kiss and the image fades. You begin to realise that you’re seeing the most significant parts of your parents’ lives playing right in front of you, the cave’s giving you what you’ve always wanted, the answers you’ve always wanted to know, everything about them you’ve always wondered.

 

The next image shows something even more significant. Your mother is teaching younglings again, but this time, after teaching a small boy how to hold his lightsaber properly, she gets up really steadily, and slowly, and then you note that her stomach looks somewhat rounder beneath her dress. Your heart lurches as Anakin, looking tired and scarred, and, you note, with a robotic hand, something you hadn’t noticed in the last image, but his expression softens when he sees your mother.

 

“Anakin!” your mother smiles, rushing up to hug him the way you would with Luke, and then pulling away she notices something’s wrong. “Hey, what is it?”

 

“Nothing,” Anakin replies, forcing a smile. “I’m just exhausted.”

 

“Well, a lot’s happened here since you’ve been away,” your mother smiles. “I’ve got something to tell you and Padme.”

 

“Really?” Anakin looks surprised. “We’ve got something to tell you as well.”

 

“Alright, you go first.”

 

“Padme’s pregnant.”

 

Your mother’s jaw drops. “That’s amazing! I’m pregnant too!”

 

“No?” Anakin laughs in delight. “Congratulations!”

 

“Isn’t that strange? Our babies might be born at the same time!”

 

They both laugh as your father comes in and grins. “Hey, when’d you get back?” he asks, clapping Anakin on the shoulder.

 

“Last night,” Anakin replies, patting his friend’s arm. “Sorry, I didn’t get a chance to see you then. I hear congratulations are in order.”

 

Your father beams. “Yes, and our girl’s going to be a Jedi just like her mother.”

 

“How do you know it’s a girl?” your mother asks, teasingly.

 

“I just know,” your father insists, nudging Anakin. “I used to Force.”

 

Anakin grins, although you sense that something’s troubling him that he hasn’t told them but doesn’t really want to. “Well, she’ll have a friend when she’s born. Padme’s expecting too.”

 

“No way! Congratulations!” your father exclaims, hugging him.

 

You smile as they fade, noting that they all seem so happy. You wait, frowning when the next image doesn’t come through right away and then you gasp, seeing it’s an image of Anakin, cloaked and wielding his lightsaber as he strikes down...younglings?

 

“No, stop, what are you doing?” you shout, even though you know he can’t hear you.

 

Then, amid all the fighting, your father runs up to him. “Anakin? Anakin, what are you doing?”

 

“I’m ending this war!” Anakin replies, darkly, turning to him. “Join me, _(Y/F/N).”_

 

Your father shakes his head. “No. This is the Dark Side. Anakin, you’re better than this. Stop now, turn away.”

 

Anakin’s expression hardens. “Then you’re against me.”

 

“Anakin, you’re not well,” your father says, reaching for something. You don’t think he’s aiming for his blaster but the small comlink on his belt, but Anakin misinterprets and you scream as he runs your father through with his lightsaber. Your father gasps as he looks up at his friend with a bewildered and betrayed expression before falling to the floor.

 

“Father!” you scream before the images fade. You run forwards and find yourself facing the last image, a scene of your mother standing by a window, staring out into the beautiful skyline beyond. “No!” you shout. “No more! I don’t want to know!”

 

_“(Y/M/N)?”_

 

It’s Obi-Wan, older than the first image showed, but not white haired, not yet. Your mother turns and you see her holding a wrapped bundle, a baby, in her arms. Her face is pale, wan and she looks like she’s been crying a lot.

 

“I can’t bring myself to hate him, Obi-Wan,” she says, softly. “Not knowing there might still be a chance...”

 

“There’s no chance, _(Y/M/N),”_ Obi-Wan replies, softly, sorrowfully. “He’s not the man we once knew.”

 

“But there is still a bit of good in him, I can feel it,” your mother whispers. “He was only doing it to save her. Now, I have to try and save him.” She looks down at you in her arms and then walks up to Obi-Wan. “I need you to take her to my father. I can’t have her here in this warzone. She needs to be safe.”

 

_“(Y/M/N)-”_

 

“Please, Obi-Wan, I trust you.”

 

Obi-Wan sighs and then holds out his arms, murmuring as your mother places you in them, “I seem to be doing this a lot lately.”

 

Your mother smiles, although a few tears spill, and she kisses your forehead. “Goodbye, _(Y/N),_ I love you so much, and your father loved you too.” She looks up at Obi-Wan. “Don’t let her be alone, please. Find her a friend.”

 

Obi-Wan nods and touches her arm. The image fades but this time you tear your eyes away from the scene, turn and run from the cave before you can see anything else. You streak through the forest, putting as much of it behind you as you can before you reach Yoda’s hut, and there your legs give out and you collapse to your knees, sobbing and shaking.

 

 _“(Y/N)?”_ You hear Luke come running towards you and you fiercely wipe your eyes, because you hate crying in front of him even though you know he’ll never tease you for it, he’s always very comforting when you’re upset no matter what. He crouches down in front of you and touches your arm, concerned. “Hey, what is it? What happened?”

 

“I went into the cave,” you manage to say, shuddering.

 

“What did you see?”

 

“The past. And it was terrifying. And heartbreaking.”

 

Luke helps you to your feet and hugs you, tightly. “It’s alright,” he murmurs. “I’ve got you.”

 

You hug him back and glance over at Yoda, who simply lowers his head in some kind of respect and understanding. You realise that he knows what you saw, and, more than that, he was aware of it happening at the time, like Obi-Wan he witnessed firsthand everything your parents went through. Closing your eyes on him, you hug Luke back and bury your head in his shoulder, more determined than ever now to become a Jedi and make your mother proud.


	5. Training Cut Short

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Luke have become Rebels alongside Leia, Han, Chewbacca, C3PO and R2D2 but it isn’t long before you find yourself sent to a completely new planet to train with a Jedi Master. However, your troubles are far from over as Darth Vader is intent on capturing you and Luke by whatever means possible, and tensions run high when he decides to use your friends as bait. Meanwhile, the pair of you are still struggling with your feelings for each other; Luke thinks that they’re completely platonic whilst you know for a fact they are something more...

Time passes, and you lose all track of it. Neither you nor Luke dare venture near the cave ever again and instead concentrate on everything Yoda tells you, throwing yourself into your training. You begin to see that he’s right about the pair of you; deep down inside you don’t have that much self-confidence when it comes to the Force, and he has to work extremely hard to make you let go of your conscious self and become one with it. As for Luke, yep, you realise one day, his impatience is what blocks him from becoming a Jedi just yet.

 

On the day in question, you’re taking a break from a particularly gruelling exercise involving you standing on your hands and attempting to shift rocks using the Force. Why you had to be upside down for it, you didn’t really understand, but after what had felt like hours, you had finally managed it. Now it’s Luke’s turn and even R2D2 looks intrigued, or as intrigued as a droid can look, at any rate, as he totters over to watch the scene unfold.

 

“Use the Force, Luke,” Yoda breathes, standing on Luke’s feet as your best friend attempts to do what he instructs. “Yes...”

 

You watch as Luke manages to make one rock float on top of the other just like you did earlier, and if it wasn’t for the fact that you’d break his concentration, you’d clap for him. R2D2 begins bleeping suddenly.

 

“R2, hush!” you hiss.

 

“Now the stone...feel it,” Yoda murmurs.

 

Slowly, Luke tries to move the stone again with his hand, but R2D2’s frantic bleeping and whistling proves to be too much. You shoot the little droid an angry glare and R2D2 turns his head in the direction of Luke’s X-wing fighter. You follow his gaze and then realise that the ship’s sinking into the lake. You leap to your feet and Luke, distracted, loses his balance, sending Yoda tumbling to the ground as he collapses likewise, looking over at R2D2 with an annoyed look.

 

“Concentrate!” Yoda insists.

 

“How are we supposed to concentrate on anything when the ship’s sinking?” you ask, pointing.

 

Luke notices and springs to his feet. The pair of you run to the water’s edge and he groans. “Oh, no! We’ll never get it out now!”

 

“So certain are you,” Yoda retorts, sternly. “Always with you it cannot be done. Hear you nothing that I say?”

 

“Master, moving stones around is one thing,” Luke replies. “This is totally different.”

 

“No!” Yoda insists. “No different! Only different in your mind. You must unlearn what you have learned.”

 

You and Luke exchange a frown. You have to admit that sometimes you’re both uncertain that Master Yoda isn’t completely insane after all.

 

“Alright, I’ll give it a try,” Luke shrugs.

 

“No! Try not,” Yoda says. “Do. Or do not. There is no try.”

 

Luke closes his eyes and concentrates. You turn to R2D2, shooting him a warning look to be quiet this time and he rocks back and forth as if nodding in understanding to your silent urging. Slowly, the back end of the X-wing begins to emerge from the water and you hold your breath, anticipating the whole thing rising out of the lake, but then it slides back down again, disappearing once more. Panting with the effort, Luke returns to Yoda and sits down.

 

“I can’t,” he says. “It’s too big.”

 

“Size matters not,” Yoda insists. “Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you?” You both shake your heads. “And well you should not. For my ally is the Force. And a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we.” He pinches Luke’s shoulder. “Not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you. Here, between you, me, the tree, the rock – everywhere! Yes, even between this land and that ship.”

 

You glance back over at the ship, wonderingly. Luke, on the other hands, is ready to give up as he gets to his feet and says to Yoda “You want the impossible,” before starting to leave. Turning fully to the ship, you concentrate hard on what Master Yoda just told you before closing your eyes.

 

 _I can do this,_ you think, stretching out a hand. _It’s just a rock, it’s easy. I can do this._

 

R2D2 beeps in what appears to be terror and you hear him scoot away, but you ignore him, the sound of dripping water running down a large object rising from the lake reaching your ears and you dare open your eyes, seeing that you’re lifting the entire ship out of the water with the Force. Behind you, Luke looks up and then comes closer to you on seeing what you’re doing. Yoda simply smiles. You laugh.

 

“I’m doing it,” you whisper in amazement. “I’m doing it.”

 

“One with the Force are you becoming,” Yoda replies, softly.

 

“Where do I put it?” you ask, suddenly worried that the ship might sink back into the lake at any second. Beside you, Yoda reaches out a hand and helps you guide the ship gracefully onto the shore, both of you using the Force together to direct it to dry land.

 

You drop your hand, feeling giddy and delighted all at once. Luke jogs up to the ship before running all around it, checking it’s the real thing and not a trick before he goes up to Yoda, who’s now sitting on a tree branch. “I don’t believe it,” he exclaims.

 

“That is why you fail,” Yoda replies.

 

You look at your hands, still stunned that you managed to finally connect with the Force. Luke looks over at you before running up to you. “That was amazing, _(Y/N),”_ he whispers, still awed by your sudden burst of power. You nod, wearily, making a non-committal noise that sounds like a shaky “Yeah,” before rubbing your forehead. Luke frowns. “Are you alright?”

 

“I feel drained,” you say, unsteadily.

 

“Worn you out, has training,” Yoda replies, wisely. “Rest you need. No more training today.”

 

Luke takes you back to Yoda’s hut where you can at least try and sleep off the day’s events. “Not going to tuck me in?” you joke when he hands you a blanket.

 

“You just pulled a Fighter ship out of the water with the Force, I think you can tuck your own self in,” Luke grins back.

 

You’re glad he’s not jealous that you were able to do that before him. Then again, you reflect, Luke’s not really the jealous type. It makes you wonder what he’d do if you ever decide to start flirting with Han.

 

“You’ll get it too,” you say, softly, reaching for his hand. “I know you will.”

 

Luke smiles, softly, squeezing your hand back before getting to his feet. “Try and get some sleep.”

 

You do so and wake the next morning feeling much more refreshed and ready to start another day’s training. As you predicted, Luke soon picks up on being able to move larger objects with the Force too, and then allows you to smugly tell him “I told you so.” A few days later, you’re both upside-down again, causing your equipment cases – and a very startled R2D2 – to rise into the air, listening to Yoda tell you that through the Force you can see into the past and the future, and that’s when it happens.

 

The screaming...the pain...a sound of tortured roaring...you’re very aware of who those voices belong to and they’re not coming from this planet, it’s somewhere else.

 

“Han! Leia!”

 

Both you and Luke lose your balance, and collapse, and R2D2 falls to the ground with a crash and a startled whistle as you both roll to your feet in alarm. You quickly leap up and help the poor little droid to his feet as Luke catches his breath.

 

“Hm,” Yoda murmurs, shaking his head. “Control, control, you must learn control.”

 

“Sorry, R2,” you mutter.

 

“We saw a city in the clouds...” Luke gasps.

 

“Mm,” Yoda agrees. “Friends you have there.”

 

You nod. “They were in pain, like they were being tortured.”

 

“It is the future you see,” Yoda replies.

 

You and Luke look at one another in alarm. “Will they die?” Luke asks.

 

Yoda closes his eyes and lowers his head. “Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future.”

 

“Well, we’ve got to help them!” you exclaim, snatching up your shirt.

 

“Decide you how to serve them best,” Yoda advises, gravely. “If you leave now, help them you could. But you would destroy all for which they have fought and suffered.”

 

You blink at him, because to your mind that makes no sense. You can’t get Chewbacca’s pained cries out of your head, you know in your heart that this isn’t something you can just leave, even if it’s advised by a Jedi Master. By the look on Luke’s face, he’s also come to the same conclusion.

 

“Come on, R2,” you say with determination. “Let’s go.”

 

Naturally, Yoda does his best to talk you both out of it, even as you’re loading everything, including R2D2, into your X-wings. “Luke! _(Y/N)!_ You must complete the training.”

 

“We can’t keep these visions out of our heads,” Luke replies. “They’re our friends. We’ve got to help them.”

 

“We can’t just sit by and do nothing,” you add. “They could be in serious trouble even now.”

 

“You must not go!” Yoda insists.

 

“But Han and Leia will die if we don’t!” Luke argues.

 

“You don’t know that,” says Ben’s voice. The pair of you look up in surprise to see a shimmering ghostly vision of your former tutor, or perhaps it really is his spirit, standing beside Yoda. “Even Yoda cannot see their fate.”

 

“Well, it’s not a risk either of us want to take,” you argue. “If we stay here, they could die, and then what?”

 

“She’s right, we can help them,” Luke agrees. “We feel the Force.”

 

“But you cannot control it,” Ben reminds you. “This is a dangerous time for both of you, when you will be tempted by the Dark Side of the Force.”

 

“No,” you assert, firmly.

 

“Yes, yes,” Yoda insists. “The cave. Remember your failure at the cave, Luke!”

 

“But I’ve learned so much since then,” Luke replies. “Master Yoda, we promise we’ll return and finish what we’ve begun. You have our word.”

 

You nod in agreement. “Yes, we will, but right now our friends need us. Even C3PO could be in trouble.” R2D2 whistles, worriedly, and you glance at him. “I’m sure he’s fine, R2.”

 

“It is you two and your abilities that the Emperor wants,” Ben replies. “That is why your friends are made to suffer.”

 

“And that’s why we have to go,” Luke replies.

 

“Luke, I don’t want to lose you two to the Emperor the way I lost Vader.”

 

“You won’t,” you insist.

 

“Stopped they must be,” Yoda adds. “On this, all depends. Only a fully-trained Jedi Knight with the Force as their ally will conquer Vader and his Emperor. If you end your training now, if you chose the quick and easy path, as Vader did, you will become an agent of evil.”

 

“Patience,” Ben agrees.

 

“And sacrifice Han and Leia?” Luke fires at them.

 

“If you honour what they fight for, yes,” Yoda replies.

 

You shake your head. “We’re not ending the training. We’re just putting it on hold for a while. Right now our friends need us more than anything on this planet does.”

 

“If you chose the face Vader, you will do it alone,” Ben says, solemnly. “I cannot interfere.”

 

You hoist yourself up into your fighter and glance at Luke. He looks back at you and then nods, determinedly. “We understand. R2, fire up the converters.”

 

R2D2 does so as Luke gets into his own X-wing.

 

“Luke, don’t give in to hate,” Ben advises. “That leads to the Dark Side.”

 

“Strong is Vader,” Yoda agrees. “Mind what you both have learned. Save you it can.”

 

“We will,” you swear.

 

“And we’ll come back, that’s a promise,” Luke adds, firing up his X-wing. You do the same and together you lift off from Degobah and sail off into space. You can feel in which direction the Force is trying to pull you both, so you check your navigation computer from places in that direction where Han and Leia and the others might be. Cloud City comes up on your screen and you direct the co-ordinates to Luke before leaning back in your seat with a sigh.

 

“What is it?” Luke asks through your comlink.

 

“I’m worried about them,” you say, shaking your head. “The way Chewie was yelling...it was terrifying.”

 

“Hey, we’ll find them, okay?” Luke reassures you. “It’ll be alright.”

 

“I hope you’re right,” you agree and R2D2 beeps in agreement. Closing your eyes, you pray silently to whatever powers are out there that Han and Leia and Chewbacca and C3PO will all be alright by the time you get to them. Part of you’s not so much worried about them, however, as to what kind of warzone you’ll have to go through to get to them. After all, Yoda and Ben are right, you and Luke haven’t finished your training yet, you’re still in the Padawan stages of becoming Jedi. Alright, so you’ve survive Imperial Troopers before, and probably worse, but somehow you feel like that was just luck, and besides you’ve either had a plan or else extra backup each time before. This time it’s just you and Luke alone, going into...well, neither of you knows what.

 

 _Please let everything be alright,_ you think, desperately, as you approach Cloud City.

 


	6. Trap!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Luke have become Rebels alongside Leia, Han, Chewbacca, C3PO and R2D2 but it isn’t long before you find yourself sent to a completely new planet to train with a Jedi Master. However, your troubles are far from over as Darth Vader is intent on capturing you and Luke by whatever means possible, and tensions run high when he decides to use your friends as bait. Meanwhile, the pair of you are still struggling with your feelings for each other; Luke thinks that they’re completely platonic whilst you know for a fact they are something more...

You have to admit, as you and Luke slowly come closer to what you assume to be the central building in Cloud City, that it’s a beautiful place, and can’t help wondering how Han and Leia came across it. You’ve certainly never heard of it until now. The first thing you both notice as you touch down on the small launch platform is that the whole place seems to be deserted. It isn’t just the lack of people, there’s no noise, no ambience from distant aircraft or music or indeed anything. The whole place is completely quiet.

 

Yanking off your helmet, you spring down from your fighter and go to help Luke help R2D2 down. “Doesn’t seem to be anyone here,” he comments, frowning.

 

“This is definitely the place, though,” you say, fingering your blaster on your belt just in case an Imperial Trooper suddenly leaps out at you. “I can feel it.”

 

Together the three of you make your way stealthily through the doors in front of you. They open with a soft hiss and you peer around the doorway into the corridor beyond. The whole place is clean and white, like a medical building, and still suspiciously quiet and seemingly devoid of life, human or otherwise. You draw your blaster and keep it at your side ready to use as the pair of you start quietly down the corridor, with R2D2 trailing behind.

 

“This is creepier than Degobah,” Luke murmurs.

 

“Mm,” you agree. “I don’t like it.”

 

Still, you don’t turn around and run away, either of you, because you’re both determined to find out what’s happened to your friends. Presently, you feel a rush of both hope and dread as you hear what sounds like a group of people coming down a side hallway. R2D2 begins to bleep excitedly until you both glare at him and he cuts off with a feeble whistle. Pressed against the wall, you and Luke lean slightly forwards to see a masked figure you don’t recognise, but take to be a bounty hunter, enters the hallway, followed by two guards pushing what looks like a human body encased in carbonite. You don’t get a very clear view of it from the other side of Luke, but you feel him tense beside you, so you take it it’s probably someone you know.

 

 _Please not Han,_ you think.

 

Two Stormtroopers follow the odd procession, and, just your luck, spot you and Luke and immediately open fire. You shoot back as Luke draws his own blaster out and joins you. You both blast the Troopers before they can get any more shots in. The two guards quickly whisk the body away as the bounty hunter lowers his arm and fires a deadly laser in your direction. Luke grabs you and drags you out of the way just in time as the laser instead takes out a huge chunk of wall. Panting, the pair of you rush after them, but by the time you reach the corridor they were in, they’ve gone.

 

“Now where’ve they gone?” you mutter, glancing around.

 

Together, you spot another side corridor and see Leia, Chewbacca (with what looks like most of C3PO tied to his back) and a tall man in a cloak you don’t recognise being herded down it by several other Stormtroopers, who also open fire. You both duck around a corner and fire back, and Leia spots you as she is dragged through a doorway, although she fights to yell out to you.

 

“Luke! _(Y/N)!_ Don’t – it’s a trap! It’s a trap!”

 

She’s pulled out of sight, as are the others, and as the firepower dies down, you and Luke emerge and stare at the door where she just disappeared.

 

“Come on,” Luke mutters as you both come to your senses, still reeling from Leia’s warning, and you race through the door and into a small anteroom, but it’s deserted. Turning, you realise that R2D2’s fallen behind and you sigh.

 

“Great, now we’ve lost R2!”

 

“He’ll be fine,” Luke replies, looking around the anteroom.

 

Cautiously, the pair of you make your way into the nearest room, which looks to be a carbon-freezing chamber. You frown as the pipes around you hiss and let off some steam. There’s an opening above you and you both stop to look up at it, and then you jump as the platform you’re standing on begins to rise.

 

“Luke, I have a bad feeling about this,” you murmur, feeling about for his sleeve. Luke says nothing but you note that he tightens his grip on his blaster, meaning he silently agrees with you.

 

The platform rises into a chamber above you, which, like almost everywhere else you’ve been so far, feels deadly quiet and inactive. Stepping off the platform, the pair of you look around the room and you move to examine the controls by the freezing unit. The lights come up, illuminating the room and giving you the ability to see properly. You frown, seeing they’ve been set to freeze another body already, even though there’s no one but you two in the room.

 

_Is this what Leia meant about a trap?_

 

“Luke?”

 

You glance up and see he’s noticed a dark figure standing on the walkway above you. Instinctively, you both holster your blasters, staring up at the distinct human shape, cloaked and wearing a familiar helmet. Darth Vader is still as frightening as the last time you saw him, although this time you don’t feel the urge to run away, you feel more confident in facing him down, in spite of seeing what he did to Obi-Wan. Though neither of you have actually met the man face to face like this before, you know that you and Luke have more reason to hate him than anyone else. After all, he’s the one who killed Luke’s father and both your parents, not to mention Obi-Wan, and he tried to kill the pair of you three years ago when you were taking out the Death Star; plus Leia had told you a little while ago how she was tortured by him in order to reveal what she had done with the Death Star plans.

 

In short, you’ve plenty of reason to grab onto your lightsaber in his presence right now as he bears down on the pair of you.

 

“The Force is with you, young Skywalker, young _(Y/L/N),”_ Darth Vader says in his deep voice that you’ve never actually heard until right this second. You furrow your eyebrows, wondering how this can be the same man you saw in your flashbacks in the cave, the one who joked with your father and congratulated your mother on her pregnancy. “But you are not Jedi yet.”

 

In response, Luke leads the way up the stairs, where you find yourselves face to face with your old enemy again. Both of you ignite your lightsabers, confidence flowing through you. In an instant, Darth Vader has his own sword lit, and he’s clearly got no qualms about taking on two of you at once, as made evident when he strikes first, and you both parry his blow. Soon the three of you are locked in combat and you’re finding it very difficult not to suddenly start battling Luke instead of Darth Vader. You try to remember Yoda’s instructions back on Degobah.

 

_“Concentrate...feel the Force flowing through you...beware of the Dark Side...one with the Force you are becoming...”_

The battle intensifies as it takes you the platform overlooking the chamber, which sways as your sabers clash together.

 

“You have learned much,” Darth Vader comments.

 

“You’ll find we’re full of surprises,” Luke retorts.

 

Darth Vader suddenly makes a move that sends your lightsaber flying out of your hands, forcing you to leap back to protect yourself from his blade. Using what you learned on Degobah, you bound down the stairway to retrieve your blade and look up just in time to see Luke jump out of the way of another blow from Darth Vader, roll down the stairs and land not too far away from you. A gasp escapes you as Darth Vader leaps, practically flying through the air and lands right in front of him. You look around desperately for your blade. The red lighting makes it impossible to see anything that can blend into the darkness, and you look up in time to see Darth Vader backing Luke up onto the platform you entered the room on.

 

“Your destiny lies with me, Skywalker,” he says. “Obi Wan knew this to be true.”

 

“No,” Luke replies, firmly.

 

_Lightsaber, lightsaber..._

 

A movement catches your eye and you notice the hydraulic cover behind Luke has opened noiselessly. Before you can yell out to warn him, however, Darth Vader has backed him to the edge and Luke yells as he falls down into the chamber below.

 

“Luke!” you shout, and in an instant, feeling about with the Force, you feel your lightsaber fly into your hand. At the same time, Darth Vader activates the chamber controls with the Force. Freezing steam begins to rise from the chamber as you run forwards towards Darth Vader and engage in battle with him again.

 

“All too easy,” he says to you. “Perhaps neither of you is as strong as the Emperor thought.”

 

 _I’m coming, Luke,_ you think, desperately, _just hang on._

 

Darth Vader almost knocks you over with the next blow and as you leap back, you notice through the steam a figure jumping up from the platform as liquid metal begins to pour into the chamber below. You grin in triumph as you turn to Darth Vader. “Think again, Darth!”

 

Darth Vader looks up and sees Luke handing from some hoses above on the carbonite outlet.

 

“Impressive,” he muses, before swiping at one of the hoses, narrowly missing Luke and letting loose a spurt of freezing steam. “Most impressive.”

 

You leap forwards with your lightsaber and block another blow before he can try and hurt Luke again. Swinging himself down, Luke uses the hose to spray carbonite steam at Darth Vader, temporarily distracting him, before summoning his lightsaber with the Force. You’re beginning to wish he wouldn’t keep scaring you like this. _Still,_ you reflect, _that’s my best friend, reckless, just like Yoda said._

Together you parry another blow from your enemy’s lightsaber. “Obi-Wan has taught you well,” Darth Vader muses. “You have controlled your fear...now release your anger.” You can’t resist rolling your eyes because he sounds like he’s trying to tutor you just like Obi-Wan and Yoda did, rather than trying to kill you. “Only your hatred can destroy me.”

 

You can tell Luke’s keeping his emotions in check, though, and you can’t resist goading “And what if we don’t hate you? What then?”

 

Darth Vader doesn’t answer, but his heavy breathing sounds annoyed with your defiance. Battle commences again, the two of you against him, using what Yoda taught you, protecting each other as you leap to avoid blows from Darth Vader’s saber, steam billowing into the room all around you. It isn’t easy, but you weren’t expecting it to be, you’re just grateful that Luke’s here with you now, you certainly wouldn’t want to take on Darth Vader on your own. It isn’t long before Darth Vader’s backing away from your attacks and towards the edge of the circular elevated floor you’re all standing on. He loses his balance as you both keep up your attack and falls into the pit below. You both wait but when he doesn’t leap back up to try and hurt you again, you both get suspicious. Deactivating your lightsabers, you pocket them and then Luke hops down into the pit. You follow, keeping all your senses on alert for any sign of your enemy.

 

Below, you find a dark tunnel that looks a bit like some kind of ventilation system. Luke goes to step inside, but you grab his arm and pull him about to face you. “Should we?”

 

“Can’t give up now,” Luke points out.

 

“Mm...” you murmurs, doubtfully, glancing down the tunnel.

 

Luke puts a hand on your shoulder. “Don’t be scared.”

 

“I’m not,” you insist, although the slight shiver you give as you say it isn’t actually from the cold.

 

Luke leads the way into the tunnel, and as you step inside after him, lights come on all around you. On the other side, you hop out into another room and the tunnel doors immediately close behind you, causing you both to jump. With one hand on the handle of your lightsaber, you follow close behind Luke, in fact if you got any closer to him, you’d be pressed right up against him (not that that would in any way be unappealing to you), and the pair of you glance around the room. There’s a circular window at the end of it, through which you can see lights from the city outside. You suddenly become aware of Darth Vader’s heavy breathing and the pair of you immediately light up your sabers as he approaches you.

 

You can sense something’s about to happen before it even does. Darth Vader lights up his saber and at the same time a large pipe begins to break away from the wall. The whole thing flies towards you both but Luke deflects its impact with his lightsaber whilst you block Darth Vader’s attack. Using the Force again, Darth Vader sends a large box-like piece of machinery towards you, but you block it. More machinery shoots towards the pair of you and you both do your best to stop them from hitting you, but they’re coming faster than you can keep up with them. Darth Vader lowers his lightsaber as the pair of you keep getting hit, leaving you bruised and battered, and wearing you both out. One piece of machinery catches you on the side of the head and you stagger back towards the window as a second piece comes flying at you and causes the window to smash. The backdraft begins sucking out everything in the room that isn’t pinned down. Cloak flying out behind him, Darth Vader manages to stand his ground against it, but you aren’t so lucky as a pipe suddenly flies at you and knocks you out of the window.

 

 _“(Y/N)!”_ you hear Luke shout as you fall.

 

The force of the impact sends you hurtling towards the supporting leg of a gantry below and you know your only chance of survival is to reach for the edge of it. Thankfully, it’s one of those with parts sticking out of it, so it’s surprisingly easy to get a handhold, although you can only use one arm given the fact that you’re holding your lightsaber in your other hand and as you manage to grab onto a piece of solid metal, you feel muscles tear in your upper arm. You yelp, a high sound that echoes all around you, but you know you’re safe for now at least.

 

“Okay, this is high up,” you gasp, deactivating your lightsaber and pocketing it before grabbing on with your other hand and finding a foothold. “Now what?” you murmur, not sure what to do or where to go. Someone suddenly grabs the railing of the gantry beside you and you jump, but relax when you see it’s Luke swinging himself up onto the platform. “Are you okay?” you shout to him.

 

“Just!” Luke shouts back, breathlessly. “Hold on, I’m coming.”

 

“Hurry up,” you beg, quietly, closing your eyes. Flying in a ship is one thing, but you know that if you fall now, there’s no chance of a safe landing. Then you feel Luke kneeling in front of you and he grabs your hands.

 

“Come on, I’ve got you,” he reassures you.

 

You manage to struggle up beside him, catching your breath. “Thanks.”

 

You both get to your feet and make your way along the gantry, into the control room. Two second later, naturally, you’re attacked by Darth Vader again.

 

_Oh, come on, give us a break!_

 

Your arm is twinging but you know it’ll be alright, you’re more concerned about your slight head wound and the bruises to your ribs. Luke doesn’t look much better, but both of you are determined that you’re not going to die today, not by Darth Vader’s hands at any rate. He is relentless this time, and you soon both find yourselves ducking out of the way as he hits a control unit, sending sparks flying at you. Your temple is throbbing, it’s making you feel not quite in control of your movements, and you pray you’re not about to collapse. Luke seems to notice this because you’re suddenly aware that he’s in front of you, pushing you back to safety, or at least to somewhere that’s safer from Darth Vader, for now, at any rate.

 

The platform your standing on ends in a circular floor with a large, rocket-shaped instrument on the end, the purpose of which you can’t see the reason for, it just looks like one of those complex things that could do anything in a city like this, but one thing’s for sure, it’s the last place left to go before the long drop below. Luke suddenly gets knocked off his feet and you get the idea of running around the circular end of the platform to double back and defend him from another blow. In a second, though, you’re likewise knocked off your feet and as you look up, you realise that if you’re to attack Darth Vader now, he will kill Luke.

 

“You are beaten,” Darth Vader intones. “It is useless to resist. Don’t let yourself be destroyed as Obi-Wan did.” It feels like he’s taunting you now. Before you can say anything, though, Luke parries away the enemy lightsaber with his own and leaps to his feet. You sit up; rubbing your head and wishing this feeling of being stunned would just pass, because it’s ruining your concentration. Luke manages to cut into Darth Vader’s armour but although your enemy groans, it doesn’t seem to have done him any damage.

 

Luke looks over at you. “Go!” he shouts.

 

You realise you’re close to being trapped on a platform with Darth Vader if Luke keeps backing up anymore. Scrabbling to your feet, you snatch up your lightsaber and leap to your best friend’s side. He nudges you to get onto the rocket-shaped part of the platform first before following to defend you from Darth Vader. Together they both succeed in cutting the instrument complex loose and it gets blown away by the wind. Feeling useless with your aching arm and feeling of giddiness, you deactivate your lightsaber and search for a way off the platform that doesn’t involve jumping off it.

 

There isn’t one.

 

You turn back to the fight in front of you and then a scream rips from you as Darth Vader severs Luke’s right forearm with his lightsaber, cutting off his hand and sending his own lightsaber flying. Luke yells out in pain and back up, holding his arm against himself to stem the pain and the flow of blood.

 

“Luke!” You duck down behind him and tug him to a safer part of the platform bit you’re on. “I’ve got you!”

 

In great pain, Luke looks up as Darth Vader looms over the pair of you. “There is no escape,” he says. “Don’t make me destroy you.” You and Luke back up further until there’s nowhere else to go. “Luke, you do not yet realise your importance. You have only begun to discover your power. Join me, both of you, and I will complete your training. With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy.”

 

“We’ll never join you!” you shout, holding onto Luke as the pair of you get to your feet and move further along the platform. You’re supporting Luke since he’s now only got one good hand to pull himself along with. Mind you, so have you, really, so you support each other. “You’ll have to kill us first!”

 

“If you only knew the power of the Dark Side,” Darth Vader growls. “Obi Wan never told you what happened to your father, did he, Luke?”

 

“He told me enough!” Luke snaps back, keeping you on the other side of him as usual, being a barrier between you and the danger. “He told me you killed him, like you killed _(Y/N)’s_ parents!”

 

“No,” Darth Vader says, and his next words send a chill down your spine. _“I_ am your father.”


	7. Wounds Need Time To Heal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Luke have become Rebels alongside Leia, Han, Chewbacca, C3PO and R2D2 but it isn’t long before you find yourself sent to a completely new planet to train with a Jedi Master. However, your troubles are far from over as Darth Vader is intent on capturing you and Luke by whatever means possible, and tensions run high when he decides to use your friends as bait. Meanwhile, the pair of you are still struggling with your feelings for each other; Luke thinks that they’re completely platonic whilst you know for a fact they are something more...

You both stare at Darth Vader in utter disbelief. Then, Luke shakes his head. “No. No. That’s not true! That’s impossible!”

 

“Search your feelings, you know it to be true,” Darth Vader replies.

 

You feel the full impact of his words hit you. “You killed my parents! They were your friends! What did they ever do to you?” Your words have no similar impact on Darth Vader, you realise, but now all your emotions are pouring out at once, along with several tears of frustration, anger and exhaustion. “You monster!”

 

“Luke, you can destroy the Emperor,” Darth Vader says. “He has foreseen this. It is your destiny. Join me and together we can rule the galaxy as father and son.”

 

You can feel Luke’s heavy breathing beside you, he’s as physically drained as you are right now. Weakly, you grasp his hand. “Destiny’s just what we make it, Luke. That’s what Grandfather would say.”

 

Luke leans away from you to look down at the drop below before glancing back up at Darth Vader. He has now put down his lightsaber and is extending a hand to Luke. But Luke won’t take it, you know him too well, he’ll never take it.

 

“Come with me. It is the only way.”

 

Luke calmly lets go of the platform. Closing your eyes tightly, you allow yourself to fall after him. There’s nothing to grab onto as you go, but you doubt you’d have much strength left for grabbing onto anything anyway, what with your head wound and sore arm. Still, you wish there was something to stop Luke from falling. The fact he’s just lost a hand and is probably losing a lot of blood right now too is worrying you. The wind is rushing all around you, ruffling your clothes, and you suddenly realise that the concept of falling like this isn’t as bad as you thought it would be, because the wind is slowing your descent. You close your eyes, not thinking about what’ll happen when you eventually hit the ground, in fact you’re ready for death to suddenly hit you at this point because there’s too much to think about, everything Vader’s just told the pair of you, and you’re beginning to realise that Obi Wan and Yoda were right, you and Luke were nowhere near ready for all this...

 

Suddenly you feel something sucking you in like a vacuum, and you open your eyes to see some kind of pipe sucking you both in. Together you slide down through it, bang into a grill at the bottom, knocking it away completely and then something hits the back of your knees and you yelp, brought suddenly back to yourself by the realisation that you’ve just landed on a large electronic weather vane. Clinging to it gratefully, you look up in time to see Luke similarly land on it, although it’s harder for him to cling on with only one hand.

 

“Luke!” you shout. “Just hang on!”

 

“I’m trying...” Luke murmurs, weakly.

 

You’re worried he might be getting delirious from loss of blood and you close your eyes, desperately reaching out with the Force. “Just stay with me, Luke, okay? I’m going to try and get help!”

 

 _Ben,_ you think desperately, trying to call for him in a time of need, _Ben! Help us! Help me! Please!_

 

Nothing happens.

 

“Ben...” Luke mutters beside you.

 

You shake your head, it’s not working. Another thought suddenly hits you and you take a deep breath before concentrating again, reaching out with the Force for someone who you can feel is closer than Obi Wan. “Leia! Leia, please, hear us!” Clinging desperately to the weather vane and silently begging Luke to just stay alive until you can be rescued, you try again to reach her. “Leia, please, just hear us...”

_“...(Y/N)?”_

 

“Leia!”

 

Opening your eyes, you scan the horizon. Beside you, you can feel Luke growing weaker and when you glance at him, he’s almost unconscious. You reach out and grab him in case he suddenly falls. “Luke, please, stay with me, everything’s going to be alright.”

 

Luke has his eyes closed as he murmurs _“(Y/N)...”_

 

“I’m right here, I’m not going anywhere, Luke,” you say, firmly, scanning the horizon in front of you again, and this time you almost cry in relief as you see a familiar ship soaring towards the pair of you. “It’s the Falcon!” The ship draws up beneath where you’re both dangling and the top hatch opens, revealing the man you saw before in the city, except minus his cloak. He looks worried when he sees the state you’re both in. “Help us,” you beg, “please.”

 

He nods and helps support Luke as the pair of you slide into the hatch. “I’m Lando, by the way, Lando Calrissian.”

 

 _“(Y/N),_ and this is Luke,” you say.

 

“Lando?” Leia’s voice comes through the comlink.

 

“Okay, let’s go,” Lando reports as the top hatch closes.

 

You step into the cockpit and immediately run to hug Leia. “Leia, thank you! Thank you so much!”

 

“You alright?” she asks, concerned.

 

“I’ve never been so scared in my entire life,” you whisper.

 

You break apart as she goes to hug Luke, relieved that you’re both alright, and you run to hug Chewbacca, who looks none the worse for wear in spite of having been tortured in Cloud City. “Chewie, you alright?” Chewbacca growls an affirmative as he hugs you back, seeming similarly relieved you’re alive.

 

“Alright, Chewie, let’s go,” Lando says, leaping into the chair that Han would normally occupy. This confirms your worry; Han _was_ the person in the cryogenically frozen block of carbonite you saw earlier. The realisation makes you want to cry, although you doubt you have the energy for that right now.

 

Leia immediately gets you and Luke to the bunks where you help her wrap his arm up in a protective cuff to stop any more blood loss and she finds you something for your head wound. You then insist that she get back to the cockpit and that you’ll both be fine resting, before you help Luke get settled. You find a cloth and wipe his face to help relax him, before the ship lurches dangerously and you decide to check if the others need any help.

 

“I’ll be right back,” you whisper, kissing his forehead tenderly before running into the cockpit. “What’s happening?”

 

“Star Destroyer,” Leia replies.

 

“Alright, Chewie, ready for light-speed,” Lando instructs.

 

 _“If_ your people fixed the hyperdrive,” Leia adds, slightly suspiciously. “All the co-ordinates are set, it’s now or never.”

 

Chewbacca barks an agreement.

 

“Punch it,” Lando agrees.

 

You ready yourself for the jump to light-speed but nothing happens and you frown. Chewbacca howls in frustration as the ship still rocks, worryingly.

 

“They told me they’d fixed it,” Lando exclaims in disbelief. “I trusted them to fix it. It’s not my fault.”

 

 _He sounds like Han,_ you note.

 

“R2 could fix it,” you say.

 

“He’s in the back with 3PO,” Leia replies.

 

Chewbacca gets to his feet and exits the cockpit in annoyance. You run after him and see C3PO sitting on a table, with R2D2 beside him, as they both attempt to attach his leg. You stare at the droid. “What happened to _you?”_

 

“Mistress _(Y/N)!”_ C3PO looks up as R2D2 turns his head in your direction and whistles as if to say “Oh, there you are.” “You would not believe what happened to me! I was attacked by Imperial Troopers and then _that_ useless furball-!” He gestures to the direction Chewbacca’s gone in – “tried to put me back together the wrong way round!”

 

Over by pit, Chewbacca growls in frustration as he attempts to fix the hyperdrive.

 

“Noisy brute,” C3PO mutters, shaking his head. “Why don’t we just go into light-speed?”

 

“We can’t,” you say as R2D2 begins to whistle a response.

 

“How would you know the hyperdrive is deactivated?” C3PO asks him. R2D2 bleeps another response. “The city’s central computer told you? R2D2, you know better than to talk to a strange computer!”

 

You laugh before turning to the little droid. “R2, can you do anything to help?”

 

R2D2 whistles an affirmative and exits the room. Annoyed, C3PO tries to shift himself off the table, calling indignantly after R2D2 to come back and fix him. You make your way back to the cockpit and suddenly hear something inside your head, Darth Vader’s voice.

 

 _“(Y/N)_...neither of you can fight this...”

 

“Get out,” you mutter, shaking your head as you run your hands through your hair, massaging your temples in an attempt to get rid of him. “Get out of my head.”

 

“It is your destiny...”

 

“No! It isn’t!”

 

Leia turns to you with a frown. _“(Y/N),_ who are you talking to?”

 

Before you can reply, the three of you are showered with sparks from whatever Chewbacca’s trying to fix in the back. Luke comes up beside you, still weakened but not so much that he can’t walk.

 

“You should be resting,” you murmur, rubbing your forehead.

 

Luke ignores you as he looks out of the window towards the Star Destroyer. “It’s Vader,” he murmurs.

 

“It is your destiny...” Vader says inside both your heads.

 

“Ben, why didn’t you tell me?” Luke murmurs.

 

“R2, come back at once, you haven’t finished with _me_ yet!” C3PO shouts from down the hall. You turn to see him standing on one leg whilst brandishing the other in R2D2’s direction. “You don’t know how to fix the hyperdrive. Chewbacca can do it. I’m standing here in pieces and you’re having delusions of grandeur!”

 

The ship suddenly lurches into light-speed and you and Luke have to grab each other to keep your balance as Lando and Leia are thrown into their seats. Stars come rushing up towards you and then you’re through, into light-speed, and as far away from Darth Vader and his Troopers as you can get. R2D2 topples backwards into the pit on top of a very surprise and disgruntled Chewbacca.

 

“You did it!” C3PO praises.

 

In relief, you and Luke hug before Leia firmly ushers the pair of you back to get some rest. When you wake, you’re relieved to find the Falcon coming up on a Rebel cruiser, which it attaches itself to via a docking tube. You’re seen to by a medical droid, who’s able to heal the torn muscles in your arm and patch up your head wound...but some of the wounds you sustained on that platform will take longer to heal, you know. You can’t help thinking about your parents, how they must have felt betrayed by Anakin Skywalker when he turned on them and became Darth Vader. Deep down, you supposed the young Anakin did remind you of Luke when he was younger, you just didn’t read anything into it at the time. From the past images you had seen, you hadn’t assumed that he was that close to your parents, but Obi Wan had confirmed that he was, that he and your mother were best friends, like you and Luke. The knowing what could have been if he hadn’t been turned by the Dark Side rips you to the core...and yet you’re not sure if you hate him for it. You feel hurt by him, broken, but you don’t think you’re angry with him.

 

It’s hard to know how you feel right now.

 

Luke also gets seen by medical droids in order to have a robotic hand attached to replace his missing one. He and Lando are already making plans to rescue Han from the mobster Jabba the Hut. Lando has to infiltrate Jabba’s base, to begin with, and then the rest of you will go in. It’s going to take some time, you know, but you’re all determined that it can be done.

 

You walk into the room where Luke and the others are waiting in time to hear Luke say into his comlink “Chewie, I’ll be waiting for your signal.” You smile as you hear Chewbacca roar a response over the comlink on the Falcon, and it makes Leia smile too, even though you know deep down she’s worried about Han. You know by now how she feels about him, and in a way it fills you with relief...and a slight tingle of jealousy. You know from her feelings for Han that her feelings for Luke now are only platonic, nothing more, and that Han more than likely reciprocates her feelings, and that makes you a little sad, because...well, because you don’t know if Luke reciprocates yours for him. Still, you push that thought out of your head as Luke ends the call with “Take care you two. May the Force be with you.”

 

Leia wanders over to the window where C3PO and R2D2 are looking out at the stars beyond. You walk closer to Luke as a medical droid pricks each of his new fingers and then his palm, causing him to twitch and mutter “Ow!”

 

“You can still feel with that?” you say in surprise.

 

“Yeah,” Luke replies, flexing his fingers. You playfully flick at his palm, hard, and he jumps, grinning “Hey!”

 

“Sorry,” you smile, before glancing at Leia. She needs a friend right now, you decide, making your way over to her.

 

“Now I know how you feel about Luke,” she murmurs, quietly, so that Luke can’t hear her.

 

“Yeah, I’d go to the ends of the galaxy for him,” you murmur back, before slipping your arm through hers and hugging it, tightly, comfortingly, sliding your other hand into hers. “We’re going to get him back, Leia. We’ll save Han, find the Rebels and then end this war once and for all.”

 

Leia nods and squeezes your hand back. Luke comes up and puts his arm around her shoulders, but you know it’s only a friendly gesture, nothing more. In your small knot of humans and droids, you watch the Millennium Falcon disappear into the starlit horizon and you cross your fingers for luck, praying that they’ll make it safely.

 

Whatever happens next, you know it’s going to be dangerous, but you’re ready for it. One way or another, the Empire’s going to pay.

 

And this time, it’s personal.


End file.
